The invention relates to material handling apparatus and particularly to apparatus for handling bulk fluent materials. Such materials include liquids and particulate materials including grains, powdered chemicals, polyvinylchloride resin, coal, coke, and sulfur.
Such materials are commonly sold in bulk. Materials are commonly moved from one location to another such as from a storage reservoir to a railroad car by means of flexible conduits. A major difficulty in the use of such flexible conduits is that it is not possible to clearly view the bulk material which is being transferred in the immediate area of the outlet or spout at the end of the bulk conveyor. The problem becomes most acute where the material being transferred has a low density and particles tend to float in the air stream or where a liquid is being transferred which produces vapors which are opaque. The inability to view the material being discharged from the flexible conduit often results in the discharge of dust, vapor or other particles into the air surrounding the area due to overfilling. The discharge of such materials may be highly undesirable for one or more reasons. The discharge of the material such as dust may present an explosion hazard. The importance of this problem is evidenced by the numerous deaths just from grain dust explosions. The material discharged may also have serious adverse health and/or ecological consequences. The undesirable discharge of dust and particles into the area, into the atmosphere and onto the equipment in adjacent areas as well as the spillage of liquid materials due to overflowing or spraying is also undesirable because of the expense and time consuming clean up which may be required. For example, with such liquid materials as molasses clean up time may be very substantial.
It is a primary object of the invention to provide apparatus for bulk handling of materials which will enable the operator to observe the material being handled.
Another object of the invention is to provide apparatus which will permit an operator to visually observe the level of an accumulated quantity of material which is being delivered through a flexible conduit.